by Mayra Rodriguez
For 17 years, I worked at Planned Parenthood and spent my days telling women that the abortion industry cares for them and that abortion is healthcare. I believed Planned Parenthood helped women and women needed abortion to succeed.
I grew up in Mexico City with a passion for helping women. When I came to the U.S., I knew I wanted to be a women’s doctor. When I heard that the local Planned Parenthood, an organization that ‘cared for women,’ was looking to hire someone who spoke Spanish, I thought I had found my dream job.
I started doing well-woman exams and STD testing. I eventually worked my way up to managing three centers and became the director of the largest abortion facility in Arizona.
I went to work each day and told women that abortions were safe and complications rarely occurred. When women left my clinic in tears after their abortion, I would tell them the lie that it was ‘just their hormones’ and that any guilt would go away. I was trained by Planned Parenthood on how to undermine their pain with corporate talking points, like ‘just take an ibuprofen, you’ll be okay’ or ‘abortion drugs are safer than Tylenol.’
I always defended my job and was convinced that I was working on the ‘right side’ of the abortion debate.
However, when I was promoted to clinic director it was the first time I began worked closely with the abortionist and was able to see firsthand what happened behind the scenes. I saw what really happened to women during an abortion.
I learned that complications were happening daily in my clinics. Women would come in to have a surgical abortion and they would leave with perforated uteruses. In other horrifying cases, women would sometimes leave with the baby’s remains still inside of them or they’d be rushed to the hospital for various life-threatening complications. I also learned that after the abortion was completed, the abortionist wouldn’t follow up with the women to ensure they were mentally or physically okay.
For me, the curtain had been lifted to what was really going on. Sick over what I saw, I began to speak out about what was happening behind closed doors. Not long after I called out my concerns, I was pulled aside and informed that Planned Parenthood leadership found drugs in my desk while I was away. I instantly knew that I was set up so Planned Parenthood could fire me.
I sued Planned Parenthood for wrongful termination and justice prevailed when the jury ruled unanimously in my favor. Deep down, I knew that the case wasn’t just about me and my termination, but also about the thousands of women who are harmed every day by Big Abortion and Planned Parenthood.
Through my trial, I saw firsthand how Planned Parenthood goes to great lengths to keep their dark secrets hidden. They are an organization that ultimately profits from abortion, and they will stop at nothing to keep doing so.
Tragically, Big Abortion takes the lives of one million babies every year, making abortion the leading cause of death in America. What breaks my heart even more is that at the end of the day, women are still not cared for. When a pregnant woman walks into a Planned Parenthood, 97% of the time she’s sold an abortion rather than given the support to keep her child.
Planned Parenthood receives almost $2 million per day from American tax dollars, despite the fact that the majority of Americans oppose taxpayer funded abortions. We are funding the ending of innocent life, all while Planned Parenthood lies to and harms women. After running some of their operations in Arizona, I can tell you abortion is Planned Parenthood’s business. Now is the time for our congressional leaders to defund them.
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Mayra Rodriguez, an ex-Planned Parenthood worker who went from being Planned Parenthood’s employee of the year in 2016 to being a pro-life advocate, speaker and whistleblower.
Photo “Planned Parenthood” by Fibonacci Blue. CC BY 2.0.
